Citibank Mastercard closing?

I received a letter from Citibank that they will be closing my Mastercard Drivers Edge Platinum card as of Nov 1/2010. The reason given is that as part of CIBC's purchase of their credit card services they would be closing Citibank Mastercard services. I can continue using my account up to Oct 31/2010. Any outstanding reward amount I have will be given back to me via cheque end of the year. From reading the letter, there was no stipend on having to buy a car to get the amount back. Getting a cheque with no attachment to buy a car would be quite nice and since I've moved to C1 Aspire as my primary card, it's ok for them to close it and give me what I've earned so far.

Anyone else get this letter? I am thinking since the Drivers Edge provided premium 2% return, it was deemed too rich a rewards program by CIBC and thus they are closing it. Or perhaps CIBC is closing all Citibank Mastercard services?

The letter didn't have much detail. It would be quite drastic for CIBC to close all Citibank Mastercards however the letter just said closure of Citibank Mastercard services which means all to me. It could be perhaps for grandfathered Drivers Edge accounts that do not have the annual fee which my account falls under. The only worry really I have is that this card is one of my older cards with long credit history with large credit limit and what this closure would do towards my credit score.

TORONTO, Sept. 1 /CNW/ - The purchase by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ("CIBC") from Citi Cards Canada Inc. ("Citi Cards") of a substantial portion of the assets comprising Citi Cards' Canadian MasterCard credit card business was completed today. Attached is a press release of CIBC providing additional details respecting the completed transaction.

In connection with the sale transaction, CIBC has become the seller and servicer of assets under the Broadway Credit Card Trust ("Broadway") securitization programme, and will replace Citi Cards as Broadway's administrative agent and as a credit enhancer. Citi Cards will act as a sub-servicer of the assets on behalf of CIBC for an interim period. In connection with the sale transaction, $285,413,851.51 of receivables from 1,350,639 accounts were removed from the pool of accounts subject to the securitization on the basis of delinquency or low credit scoring. In addition, defaulted and charged-off accounts were removed from the securitized pool.

A notice of meeting and information circular dated July 14, 2010 was prepared by Citi Cards in connection with the meeting of noteholders held on August 12, 2010 to approve changes to the Broadway securitization programme. A copy of the notice of meeting and information circular is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Additional information regarding the sale transaction and its impact on Broadway is contained in Broadway's Management's Discussion and Analysis dated August 30, 2010 under "Recent Developments - Implications of Completing the Sale Transaction", which is available on SEDAR.

In connection with the assumption by CIBC of the administrative agent role related to Broadway, Wojtek Niebrzydowski and Andrew Kriegler, each officers of CIBC, will be directly involved in CIBC's capacity as administrative agent for Broadway and as such may be considered to be acting in a capacity similar to that of a director under applicable securities legislation.

Tennoh; wrote:I received a letter from Citibank that they will be closing my Mastercard Drivers Edge Platinum card as of Nov 1/2010. The reason given is that as part of CIBC's purchase of their credit card services they would be closing Citibank Mastercard services. I can continue using my account up to Oct 31/2010. Any outstanding reward amount I have will be given back to me via cheque end of the year. From reading the letter, there was no stipend on having to buy a car to get the amount back. Getting a cheque with no attachment to buy a car would be quite nice and since I've moved to C1 Aspire as my primary card, it's ok for them to close it and give me what I've earned so far.

Anyone else get this letter? I am thinking since the Drivers Edge provided premium 2% return, it was deemed too rich a rewards program by CIBC and thus they are closing it. Or perhaps CIBC is closing all Citibank Mastercard services?

The more important question for the ones received the letter is " Do you carry a balance or not"?

There is some parlance for "performing" and "notperforming" cards and I am not sure which are performing (the ones with balance that they are going to keep) and close the nonperforming ( the ones you pay in full) or it is the other way?

Apparently CIBC has 14 Billions in outstanding balances on their VISAs and Citi MC had around 2 Billions ( on 1,350,639 accounts)

My Drivers Edge that they are closing never carried an outstanding balance. No way would I carry a 20% AR monthly. I liked the card a lot even though I had it cloned 3 times within the last couple of years. Citi was very good in reversing everything quickly and getting me replacement cards.

I used the rebate to buy my 2009 minivan and it was very nice to get back the amount I did. Now that they are closing it, I think I'll stop using my Aspire for the next couple months and maximize my purchases back on the Citi card for the that 2% return final rebate cheque.